All Nations/Varsity Triathlon, 8 May 2021

The weather on Saturday morning was extremely wet with gusty winds for the All Nations Triathlon at Eton Dorney which incorporated the Varsity triathlon competition. With the temperature of the lake still at only 13 degrees, I was very anxious about how this would impact my performance and whether I would be warm enough on the bike. Fortunately, the rain eased off before the start of the race. The water did feel cold on the 400 m swim and it was a bit of a shock to the system! However, once I was out of the water and into T1, I wasn’t as cold as I had expected. This threw me a little and I dithered a bit in transition deciding how to layer up for the bike – in the end I decided I would be fine in just my trisuit, but this did cost me some time!

The 20 km bike felt good but perhaps I could have pushed a little harder. Unfortunately I went into the run with a bad stitch. The 5 km effort felt harder than usual and it was tough to keep going. But I made it through my first ever triathlon with a smile on my face and it was a great experience. I came 3rd Oxford woman and 7th woman overall! And… we shoed the Tabs! Another Varsity victory for Oxford!

Jennifer Carter